Femto Forum Publishes White paper Detailing US Consumer Attitudes to Femtocells

Research reveals significant consumer demand for femtocells and their associated services as well as a willingness to pay

London, UK – 12th October 2010– The Femto Forum, the independent industry and operator association that supports femtocell deployment worldwide, today published a free whitepaper detailing comprehensive research into U.S. consumer attitudes to femtocells. The research, the initial results of which were announced in June, found that femtocells appeal to the majority of US broadband householders with mobile phones and that there is a willingness to pay for the devices and associated new services. The research was conducted by international research firm Parks Associates and will be followed by similar surveys in Europe and Asia. The paper, which provides a detailed treatment of the study’s methodology and findings, is available now from the Femto Forum website.

The key findings are:-

  • 56% found femtocells appealing once they were described – of these, two thirds found the technology either “very” or “extremely” appealing.
  • The 56% who found femtocells appealing greatly outnumbers the 21% who were neutral-to-negative on their indoor coverage, suggesting that femtocells’ appeal extends far beyond the coverage-challenged.
  • Although only 10% were already familiar with femtocells, 89% of this group were keen to have a femtocell, suggesting that interest will increase as femtocells become more widely understood.
  • Demand was highest amongst heavy Wi-Fi users on cell phones – 84% of these found femtocells appealing.
  • Consumers were most interested in the technology for improved in-home coverage. Secondary benefits include better handset battery life, faster mobile broadband, advanced femtocell services and home-zone calling tariffs.
  • 72% of consumers who found femtocells appealing were very interested in at least one advanced femtocell service – such as a Virtual Home Number, which rings every cell phone in the home. Half of these were willing to pay $4.99/month for their single favorite service or $9.99/month for a bundle of their favorite three.
  • Among consumers who consider themselves likely to change operator in the next 12 months, 44% said that they would very likely reconsider if offered a femtocell. Similarly, 35% of consumers in multi-operator households said they would likely consolidate their services around a single provider who offered a femtocell.

“The clear message from this whitepaper is that consumers want femtocells and operators have every reason to provide them. Consumers receive great indoor coverage and new services while operators can increase revenues and reduce churn,” said Harry Wang, Director of Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. “That said, for operators to be really successful they need to build business models based on market share gains and new service revenues, not simply charging for the device.”

“Evidently femtocells meet a clear market demand and that is not simply about improving indoor coverage. This research demonstrates that consumers are also excited about advanced femtocell services,” said Simon Saunders, The Femto Forum’s Chairman. “This opens up new vistas for operators as they assess how best to monetise the new technology. We’ve known for some time that femtocells can help alleviate growing operator costs but evidently they can also supply new revenues in interesting and unexpected ways.”

U.S. Consumer Attitudes on In-Home Mobile Services and Femtocells surveyed 1,100 mobile consumers in the U.S. over a 2-week span in May 2010. All respondents were 18 or over and had an equal or greater share in household decisions. The Femto Forum commissioned Parks Associates to conduct this custom consumer research in the U.S. as the first phase of a multi-national project.

About Parks Associates: 
Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions. The company’s expertise includes new media, digital entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services, digital health, mobile applications and services, consumer electronics, energy management, and home control systems and security.

About The Femto Forum
Femtocells are low-power wireless access points that operate in licensed spectrum to connect standard mobile devices to a mobile operator’s network using residential DSL or cable broadband connections. The Femto Forum (www.femtoforum.org) has been set up to promote the wide-scale adoption of femtocells. It has over 120 members including over 55 operators representing 1.4 billion mobile subscribers – 27% of the global total. The Forum supports and drives the adoption of industry wide standards and common architectures to enable the widespread adoption & deployment of femtocells by operators around the world. It also directs and implements a multi-faceted marketing campaign to raise the profile, drives technology development & deployment and promotes the potential of femto solutions among industry stakeholders, journalists, analysts, regulators, special interest groups, standards bodies and consumers.

Media Contacts
Femto Forum:
Oliver Chapman
[email protected]
+ 44 (0) 7713 404 571

Parks Associates:
Elizabeth Parks
[email protected]
972-490-1113